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Tax fight splits GOP

Posted: Sunday, May 13, 2007

ATLANTA - Gov. Sonny Perdue's decision last week to rescind his veto of the midyear budget might have done away with the need for a special legislative session, but it could not wipe away the weeks of sometimes bitter intra-party bickering that led up to the announcement.

From almost the moment Perdue originally said he would reject lawmakers' revisions to the spending plan for the fiscal year ending June 30, which included a $142 million property tax rebate, bitter words flew between the governor and House leaders.

Even as he told reporters he would instead approve the spending measure, but cut the tax rebate with a line-item veto, Perdue still seemed irritated at the House stance that its only action in a special session would be to vote to override the governor's original budget veto and that the tax rebate should stand.

"They seemed to be more about making a statement - a statement of independence and power - than about fulfilling our constitutional obligation of serving the needs of Georgians. And that's unfortunate," Perdue said.

House Speaker Glenn Richardson, who had worked along with other House leaders in the weeks since the regular session ended to avoid legislative overtime, pointedly noted his dissatisfaction with Perdue's decision to strike the tax rebate.

"Sometimes friends disagree, but the House will not compromise when it comes to defending the taxpayers of Georgia," Richardson said in his statement responding to Perdue's announcement that he would rescind his veto.

Some legislative leaders downplay the idea of a rift between Perdue and the House, saying they don't expect the resentment stirred up by the budget showdown to linger into 2008. Part of that could depend, though, on how Perdue's decision to kill the tax cut is received by members of his own party and whether he chooses to strike back at those who vocally opposed his veto.

Since striking the tax rebate from the budget, Perdue has come under fire from conservative critics beyond Richardson. The National Taxpayers Union, a Virginia-based conservative group, slammed the governor for "choosing bigger government over tax cuts."

It's unclear whether Perdue, who provoked Republican anger during his first year in office by proposing a tax increase, will face any political backlash for this decision. An answer could come as soon as the end of the week, when the state GOP holds its annual convention.

The governor dismisses criticism of his record on tax relief, noting that it was the House that refused to take up a proposal to exempt all retirement income from state taxes, regardless of how much a senior citizen makes. That idea was a centerpiece of Perdue's 2006 re-election campaign.

"I am convinced that if the House had had an opportunity to vote on it, the House would have passed it," he said. "We wouldn't be in this situation."

Repairable split?

More immediate questions loomed about whether the GOP would be able to patch up its differences before lawmakers reconvene for the 2008 in January with an ambitious agenda of revamping the state's tax system.

Moments after the House adjourned, having voted earlier in the day to override Perdue's veto, Richardson lit into the governor in comments to reporters.

"I'm sad that the governor has resorted not just to nursery rhymes, but he's acting like a child," Richardson said. "It's a sad day for this governor to show his backside like this."

Richardson made no secrets about his intention for any special session Perdue would call, necessary because the Senate never followed suit on the override vote.

"Absolutely we're going to override again, and we're going to override again and again and again," he said. "We're right, the taxpayers of Georgia deserve to get some money back, and the governor doesn't want to give it to them."

Richardson later personally apologized to the governor for his remarks, but Perdue made it clear Tuesday that he was still unhappy with the House's override vote.

"They simply wanted to talk about override and call that question before anything else was considered," he said. "Leaders, in my opinion, don't act in such a way."

House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island, said he didn't believe the resentments would linger and make things difficult next year.

Keen said the arguments were about which fiscally conservative path the state would take: Paying down debt or cutting taxes.

"It was a debate about the highest principles that the Republican Party believes in," Keen said. "It's all policy. It's not personal."

Nothing personal

Perdue also tried to take the emphasis away from talk of a personal rift developing between himself and Richardson, who was one the governor's floor leaders when he first came to office.

"This isn't about personalities or personal conflict," Perdue said. "This is about public policy and implementing a constitutional process that I believe very deeply in."

But rumors were already spreading that Perdue would use his line-item veto to strike projects in House leaders' districts from the budget for the coming fiscal year or require House members to go through their senators to get an appointment with the governor.

While the Senate originally agreed to the tax rebate, it was a House proposal and the upper chamber wasn't as loudly opposed to a special session as the House.

Perdue did little to knock down the budget talk, at least, during his announcement that he would rescind his veto.

"Frankly, in a broad sense, all of our actions have consequences," Perdue said when asked about the possibility. "And every one of those issues will be looked at in the light of the needs of the state and whether they best serve the citizens of Georgia."

If Perdue were to look for an opportunity to aim vetoes at key House leaders, he would have plenty of targets. Millions of dollars worth of projects for the leadership landed in the spending plan.

For example, the Augusta area picked up more than $8 million in the measure, including $5 million for design work on a proposed new building for the Charlie Norwood School of Dentistry at the Medical College of Georgia and $2.9 million for the Golf Hall of Fame and the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home.

Several of those projects were helped through the process by House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin, R-Evans, whose district is nearby.

Richardson's Paulding County received about $3.7 million, and Keen's Glynn County is in line for $1.5 million, including a commercial driver's license facility in Brunswick and repairs to a local port warehouse.

Harbin reacted angrily to the idea that the governor would use the line-item veto against his critics

"I would hope that the governor would be more of an adult than that," Harbin said. "We were not fighting the governor. We were fighting for what we thought was right."